The present invention relates to an auxiliary chair mounted on a seat of a vehicle, particularly on the seat of a motor vehicle, to sit a little child in the chair.
It is very dangerous for a little child, who cannot stably sit on the seat of a motor vehicle by himself, or a little child, who can stably sit on the seat of the vehicle by himself but cannot flexibly cope with a jolt, a shock or the like due to the movement of the vehicle, to sit on the seat of the vehicle. In order to avoid injury to the child, a conventional auxiliary chair having a construction appropriate to restrain a little child in the chair is mounted on the seat of a motor vehicle. The conventional auxiliary chair is fastened to the seat of the motor vehicle by using the seat belt thereof. The auxiliary chair can be mounted on the seat of the vehicle either to make the child face in the same direction as the driver of the vehicle or to make the child face in the reverse direction to the driver.
Means for fastening such conventional auxiliary chairs to the seats of motor vehicles were disclosed in the Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 33181/82 .
The above-described fastening means of the auxiliary seat is so constructed that the fastening means utilizes the seat belt which is inherently installed in the automotive vehicle. The fastening means is used so that the seat belt is engaged with the auxiliary seat mounted on the automotive seat and is tightened to fasten the fastening means.
The seat belt engaging means of the conventional auxiliary chairs is of such a fixed type that the seat belts of the motor vehicles cannot be engaged with or disengaged from the seat belt engaging means except by such manipulation as inserting the seat belt into an engaging lever attached to the side, back or the like of the chair and then pulling out the seat belt to the other side or the like of the chair. For that reason, the seat belt engaging means and the seat belt for fastening the auxiliary chair to the seat of the motor vehicle cannot be freely engaged with or disengaged from each other.
When the direction of the auxiliary chair fastened to the seat of the motor vehicle by the seat belt thereof and the seat belt engaging means is to be changed, the seat belt needs to be pulled out of the engaging lever. When the auxiliary chair whose direction is already changed is to be fastened to the seat of the motor vehicle again, the seat belt thereof needs to be inserted through the engaging lever again. For these reasons, it is troublesome to fasten and unfasten the auxiliary chair to and from the seat of the motor vehicle by using the seat belt thereof and the seat belt engaging means. Since the seats of most motor vehicles are constructed so that the thickness of each of the seats decreases gradually from the front end toward the rear end thereof and the sitting surface of the seat is inclined downwardly toward the rear end, each of the auxiliary chairs whose backs extend from the rear ends of the seats of the chairs almost perpendicularly thereto and which are mounted on the seats of the motor vehicles to face in the same direction as the driver thereof is tilted backward as a whole due to the inclination of the sitting surface of the seat of the motor vehicle even if the chair is not desired to be in a reclining position. For that reason, the child sitting in the chair does not feel comfortable.
When the conventional auxiliary chair, constructed to be kept in the optimal setup position for mounting on the seat of the motor vehicle to face in the same direction as the driver of the vehicle, is mounted on the seat of the vehicle to face in the reverse direction to the driver thereof, the chair is inclined backward due to the inclination of the sitting surface of the seat of the vehicle so that the back of the chair is located very near the back for the seat of the vehicle. For that reason, the child sitting in the auxiliary chair is not only forced to feel pressure from the back for the seat of the vehicle but also cannot take a proper posture in the chair. It has been desired that, in the case where the auxiliary seat is installed either forwardly or backwardly, the auxiliary seat be kept at an optimum position or angle.
Also, there has been provided an auxiliary seat that may be used forwardly or backwardly and has a reclining mechanism. However, such a conventional mechanism is so constructed that the automotive seat belt is directly applied to the reclining mechanism as shown in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 60-4437. Accordingly, such a conventional reclining mechanism suffers from disadvantages such that it is costly and intricate in structure.